Cannabis backlash: Brewster residents aim to curb business

Rich Eldred

Friday

Nov 9, 2018 at 10:45 AMNov 9, 2018 at 10:45 AM

BREWSTER -- Just a week after Orleans voters approved a ban on recreational marijuana shops at their special town meeting, residents in neighboring Brewster submitted three citizens petitions, with 406 signatures, to the town clerk that would ban recreational shops, commercial cultivation, product manufacturing, testing, and other marijuana-related businesses from Brewster, or institute tighter restrictions as a fallback.

That portion of the petition will be warrant Article 13 at the Town Meeting on Dec. 3. In addition it prohibits on-site consumption at a retailer (it already is prohibited under town or state rules). Passage will require a simple majority vote – as was the case in Orleans, although that ban only dealt with recreational retail shops.

Article 14 is an alternative should the main ban fail, that would ban pot businesses from most of the town’s zoning areas, permitting cultivation, manufacturing and testing only in the industrial zone, not allow any recreational retailers (as in Orleans) and permit medical dispensaries only in village business or commercial high density zones.

The third and last petition article would increase the distance of recreational marijuana establishments to 1,000 feet, from 500 feet, from schools, churches or other religious houses of worship, public parks, playgrounds or children’s camps.

Voters will have two options for banning or restricting marijuana-related businesses as well as a zoning change that would rule out such businesses from more of the town. As the last two articles are zoning changes, they would require two-thirds approval.

“We put the matter before town meeting to get some zoning plans in place (last March in a special town meeting) but since that time circumstances have changed. Most towns on the Cape voted to ban recreational marijuana: Orleans, Dennis, Yarmouth, Harwich, Falmouth, Chatham, Eastham, Bourne.”

Mashpee just voted down a ban on recreational marijuana shops and Provincetown and Wellfleet have approved the businesses but, Henchy noted, this leaves Brewster as the "first stop" on the Outer Cape for anyone heading east.

“Brewster already voted at the ballot not to permit recreational marijuana in November of 2016, 52 to 48 percent,” Henchy said. “So we are asking the town to reconsider their prior decision not to ban recreational marijuana (in a 273-171 vote against a ban at the November 2017 Town Meeting).”

Unlike the situation in Orleans where there were no marijuana-related businesses in the approval pipeline, Brewster already has three applicants; the Haven Center looking to operate a combined adult use/medical dispensary on Route 6A where the former For the Love of the Breed pet shop operated; Nature’s Alternative, an adult use (recreational) shop hoping to open on Route 137 near Millstone Liquors, and Cape Cod Grow Lab (an indoor cultivation operation off Freeman’s Way).

The Haven Center is deep into the approval process, with a provisional certificate for its medical dispensary from the Cannabis Control Commission, which it applied for Aug. 17, 2015, in hand as well as priority licensing status. On Monday the select board couldn’t answer whether any of these might be grandfathered in by a prior approval or application.